Sensex strengthens for the third trading day, up 69 pts

The S&P BSE benchmark continued to rule firm for the third trading day, gaining another 69 points in the late morning trade on persistent buying mainly in Consumer Durable, Teck, IT and FMCG sectors on the back of sustained foreign capital inflows amidst higher global cues.
Short covering ahead of the expiry of futures and options February contract tomorrow also boosted the market sentiment.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 266.87 crore yesterday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The sensex resumed higher at 20,877.72 and hovered in a range of 20,912.54 and 20,863.34 before quoting at 20,880.11 at 1030hrs, showing a rise of 68.67 points or 0.33 per cent from its last close.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 21.05 points or 0.34 per cent to 6,207.15 at 1030hrs.
Major gainers were BHEL (1.53 pct), Wipro (1.45 pct), Bharti Airtel (1.13 pct), Infosys (0.90 pct), TCS (0.90 pct), ITC (0.81 pct) and Icici Bank (0.78 pct).
Asian stocks rose in their early trade as Wall Street sped to historic highs amid more mergers buzz. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea rose by 0.1 pct to 1.61 pct.